PintaLondon is Europe’s only art fair dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American art. Over 60 galleries are showing works, but the 7th June 2013 is the last day, so if you are interested get down to the Earls Court Exhibition centre between 2pm and 7pm.
Soon after the entrance you come across Manuel Merida’s work at the Espace Meyer Zafra. Born in Venezuela in 1939, Merida is one of the second generation of South American kinetic artists and worked in the studio of Carlos Cruz-Diaz early in his career. His works are kinetic sculptures, rotating continually, pigment trapped under plastic falling to the bottom of the circle before being carried back to the top and falling again. There is a constant state of flux, nothing is ever settled. His works are always moving, creating new designs and images as they turn.
Circolo Britannica, Manuel Merida
The Earls Court space is huge and each gallery has a large area to display their artists’ work. There are also solo shows to honour the influential painters Cesar Paternosto and Luis Tomasello. Paternosto is a leader in Geometric Abstraction and Tomasello is another practitioner of kineticism. For the first time the Dominican Republic is represented, thanks to the Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery from Santo Domingo. Pinta Projects focuses on young Latin American artists living and working in Europe – including Armando Andrade, Tonico Lemos and Rodrigo Matheus.
Antonio Segui
The pictures of Antonio Segui are a fun interlude, as is Patas de rana turquesa, size S by Los Carpinteros. 20 flippers have been melted, stretched and placed to form a rose. The individual items are no longer any use for what they were intended. Separately they are now useless, but together they have gained a grandeur and beauty that they didn’t have when they were perfect.
Patas de rana turquesa, size S by Los Carpinteros
For anyone who catches the Latin American fine art bug there are several exhibitions coming up in London that reflect the rapidly growing Latin American presence in the city. Later this year the Serpentine Gallery has a retrospective of emerging Argentine artist Adrian Villar Rojas, whilst the Chisenhale Gallery’s presents a solo show by Mexican artist Mariana Castillo Deball. The Barbican,Freud Museum and Haywood Gallery all also have Latin American themed shows to look forward to.
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